Nox
by Callisto-Lethe
Summary: Logan brings a new mutant back to Xavier's. How will they react to her?
1. Chapter 1 Shadow

The teacher walked into the classroom. Being a substitute was always a tough job, and apparently this class had some of the worst of them. She looked around. They didn't look like such a bad bunch really. Well, there was that punk looking child over there. She'd watch out for her. She pulled out the roll and sat down and read the first name of the list. "Miranda Althea?"  
  
"Yes," came a voice from the corner. The teacher looked up to see who had answered. Miranda turned out to be sitting in the furthest corner. There was nothing remarkable about her really. She couldn't even see the girl's face with all that hair hanging down as she wrote on her notepad.  
  
Looking back to the roll she called the next name.  
  
Miranda continued to write. There was a plus to being and 'A.' It meant she could tune out as soon as the first name was called. Which was lucky, because she had more important things to think of in class than, well, class.  
  
This classroom was always dark, and Miranda couldn't deal with that very well. Not that she hated the darkness. No, she always loved the darkness. But if there were people around, it meant she had to concentrate. And there was only so much she could concentrate before she wanted to run screaming from the room. And that wouldn't make a wonderful impression. So she wrote it again and again on the paper before her. 'Stay visible, stay visible, stay visible.' that was the big plan. Don't disappear into the shadows. No matter how tempting it is, and how much you can feel the shadows pulling you to join them and become darkness, and shut up! This is not helping, Miranda!  
  
With a sigh she look up at the clock. Not long. Just focus. She brushed back her mane of dark hair and wished her mutant power was something useful. Like the power to make hair bands appear out of thin air. Or the power to be remotely normal, she added rather bitterly and then rolled her eyes. She should be used to this by now. It had been what? 6 months? She was, by now, quite good at the blending into shadow. Actually, she was very good at that. In the deep daytime shadows she was well camouflaged, maybe just a blur of something there. But at night she was invisible unless she wanted to be seen. But that was being the problem. The wanting to be seen part. For all the greatness of this 'invisibility' for use of a better word, she was having a hard time in staying visible whenever there was darkness near by. It was not a good thing.  
  
The bell rang and Miranda stood. "Thank the Gods," she said as she picked up her books.  
  
The girl who sat in front, Tara, turned and smiled brightly at her. "You always seem to completely tune out in this class, Mir. What's up with that?"  
  
Miranda shrugged. "It's boring?" she suggested brightly and then made a face. "And don't call me Mir."  
  
Tara laughed. "Randa? Irand?"  
  
Miranda snorted. "Yes. Definitely Irand." She nodded toward the door. "Come on, let go shopping."  
  
Tara raised an eyebrow. "How very girly of you." Then she sighed dramatically and leaned on Miranda's shoulder. "The lighting there does nothing for my complexion."  
  
This coming from Tara, dream queen of the high school, seventeen year old blonde goddess. Miranda couldn't imagine any light not looking go with her. Miranda shrugged. "I kind of like the lighting," she said as they walked out of the classroom together.  
  
Tara laughed. "Freak."  
  
Miranda nodded determinedly. "Yes, I am."  
  
*  
  
Three hours later, they had finished trolling the mall and Tara had gone home. Miranda was in no mood to go home. Because now I was dark out and her whole body tingled with it. It made her feel like a hunter, slipping in and out of shadow like some immortal soul stealer from one of her vampire books. Although, she had no intention of killing anyone. Hell, Miranda couldn't even kill a spider without angsting over it. (A fact with he father thought with endlessly hilarious.)  
  
But Miranda did enjoy to stalk. She could always pretend they were helpless victims that she was going to mercilessly take down! Even if she'd just follow them for a few blocks before going home to watch some tv. Ah, the exciting life of a mutant. It was times like this that she wished she had told some of her friends, or her father, or, well, anyone! Just to share this would have been wonderful, but she couldn't know how they'd react.  
  
Slowly Miranda walked though the shadows and found tonight's 'target'. He was a big guy, and she certainly didn't want to show herself. He could have very easily killed her if he felt that was inclined. He was walking along the street in a way that said mess with 'me and you'll be very sorry.' Miranda didn't doubt it and didn't want to test the theory. Biting her lip and smiling she crept forward, loving the feeling of secrecy around her. For one moment she thought he knew she was there, but knew she must have imagined it.  
  
She had been following for almost a block when she noticed them. There were two men across the street and they were watching the man she was following. Why? She was focusing on them now and she saw a flash of metal on one of them. She stopped walking. A gun? Was that a gun? Miranda's heart raced. This was her neighbourhood! People didn't just have guns! But then, these people weren't locals. They were dressed too.military? Something like that.  
  
And now they were closing in on the man, and her stomach tensed. They were going to attack him. She had to warn him! She sped up, breaking into a run to close the distance between them. But she was too late, because those men were on him. And then right before her eyes, someone happened she never would have guessed. Blades shot out from his hands. Blades! Like.claws or something!  
  
She was near when he stabbed the first man and threw him like a rag doll, and yet she kept running toward him, not even knowing why.  
  
The man had spun and driven those blades through the second man she ran toward him. she knew she wasn't visible and forced herself to separate from the darkness, feeling it happen with almost a painful tear. With a roar the man pulled the claws from the now dead man and spun on Miranda. She didn't even have a chance to react before he yelled and thrust one of those clawed hands through her stomach. Miranda gasped and her eyes went wide. Looking down slowly she saw the claws through her stomach and noticed, as if from a distance, that blood was staining her pale shirt. She looked back up at the man who was now staring at her in horror.  
  
With a whimper she slipped backwards and barely felt the arm that cradled her back before she hit the cement. There was a sharp rip in her stomach and she filched against it, another whimper escaping her lips.  
  
"It's okay," she heard him say, his voice gruff, but also worried. "Just.hold on, kid."  
  
Miranda closed her eyes. She couldn't keep them open any more. She was only vaguely aware that he had picked her up and was running. But it was too hard to remember what she was supposed to be doing. Hold on? Hold.? Yeah, sure. Hold on.  
  
*  
  
A/N- Chapter one down. ^_^ Next chapter, Miranda meets the other mutants. 


	2. Chapter 2 Secrets

Logan pushed through the hospital doors, an unconscious Miranda hanging in his arms, her blood staining his shirt. "Help her!" he yelled as soon as a doctor was in sight. The doctor saw Miranda and hid any shock he felt over the amount of blood. A nurse had rushed over to looked at Miranda. "Put her down here," the doctor demanded and Logan put Miranda onto the trolley the nurse was now bringing over.  
  
As he put her down he noticed, with a sense of growing horror, that her body flopped and her face was now very pale against the mass of dark hair. As the nurse pushed Miranda quickly down the hall, the doctor turned to Logan. "Sir. We need to know what happened to her." his voice was quick, but unnervingly calm.  
  
"She was attacked," he said quickly, not wanting to let out anything more than that. "Look, could you just go do something?"  
  
The doctor nodded quickly. "Just take a seat." Then he was gone up the corridor, rushing to get to the girl that Logan had likely killed.  
  
Logan watched down the corridor, and then walked away, pacing the room. After a moment he pulled out his phone and flicked it open. Jean's voice was almost instantly on the line. "Yes?"  
  
"Jean. It's me."  
  
"Logan. Where are you?"  
  
He looked around the almost empty waiting room. "I'm at the hospital."  
  
There was silence. "What's happened?" Jean's voice was concerned, but Logan assumed it wasn't for him. When would he every need the hospital?  
  
"There was a young girl- mutant. I hurt her pretty bad."  
  
"A mutant," Jean repeated. "What happened?"  
  
"She was following me. Has some sort of invisibility. I knew she was there and was planning on confronting her. But then.there was a problem. And she ended up getting hurt."  
  
"How?"  
  
Logan looked around the room again, and his answer came slowly. "By me. Look, I gotta go see what's happening. I'll be back there soon as I can. And I'm bringing her with me."  
  
There was a slight pause from Jean. "Alright." He voice was gentle. "Be careful, Logan."  
  
He nodded and closed the phone. Now all he had to do was wait.  
  
* Miranda opened her eyes painfully. Morning light was streaming into the room she was in and she looked around, attempting not to move too much. Everything hurt. The room was obviously a hospital room. Miranda could tell that much without even looking around much. Everything screamed 'sterile.' Everything except the man who sat in the chair by the door. He looked incredibly out of place, in his jeans and white t-shirt stained brown with dried blood. Her blood. Remembering it made her stomach seem to hurt. She let her hand drift down and felt bandages covering tender, stitched flesh. "Ow," she said voicelessly. Looking back up at the man she frowned and swallowed, her throat dry. She wanted to say something, but wasn't sure what to say. Hi, nice of you to drop by? Say, have fun almost killing me? Luckily for Miranda, the man chose to speak first.  
  
"How you feeling?"  
  
She laughed slightly and then stopped, grimacing at the pain and squeezing her eyes shut. Laughing was not good at the moment. Too bad it was one of her favourite activities. She opened her eyes and looked at him. "I'm feeling much like I was impaled through the stomach by a bunch of knives." She narrowed her eyes at him. "And I wasn't imagining, was I? Those knives, they came from in your hands, didn't they?"  
  
He nodded. "Yes, they did." He stood up and walked over to her bedside. She may have flinched away before, but any movement now seemed like it should have been avoided. So instead she just watched him. "You're a mutant," she whispered.  
  
"Yeah," he said gruffly. "And so are you. A mutant who can go invisible."  
  
She shook her head quickly. "It's not invisibility. It's like it, but it's not the same. invisibility would mean I could disappear right now. But I can't do that. But if I were standing in that shadowy corner just there, then you might not be able to see me at all. And at night I look different."  
  
"Different?"  
  
She thought for a moment, deciding on a term. "Darker. I look darker. My skin, my hair, my eyes- They all darken slightly."  
  
He was looking at her carefully. "How much is slightly?"  
  
She attempted a shrug but cut it short as it made the skin stretch on her stomach. "Six months ago- when all this started- it used to be hardly anything. But now it's getting more. I look in the mirror and I notice it right away. I'm not sure how much longer it will take till other people notice it clearly. My friends and my father." She looked down, thinking. This had been what had been playing on her mind recently. She had not minded so much having the mutation. She was just glad it wasn't something that showed up physically. But now that it was doing just that, it worried her. Would the darkness continue? And how far? The man was looking out the window and she watched him as she spoke. "My name's Miranda."  
  
He looked at her and then nodded. "Logan." She smiled lopsidedly. "And what's your mutant thing. Besides stabbing knife things."  
  
He didn't look at her. "I heal fast," he said off-handedly before looking down at her bandaged stomach. "Which you also seem to have?"  
  
"What?" she blurted out, also looking at her stomach. "No, I don't."  
  
He nodded and smiled slightly. "You do. Not much, but it's there. I'm not saying you'd survive a bullet- and you almost died last night- but you've still got it. if you didn't have it, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have made it to this hospital alive last night."  
  
She didn't say anything for a long while. "Oh." She'd been quite happy dealing with one bizarre power, and now there was another one? Whoopee?  
  
"You ever heard of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters?"  
  
She shrugged. "Isn't that some posh private school near here?"  
  
Logan nodded. "That's the one. Just.be expecting a call for there."  
  
She narrowed her eyes, having no idea what Logan was trying to get at. "Sure," she said slowly. "Whatever."  
  
He had stood up and was walking across the room. "Later, Miranda."  
  
*  
  
It was almost an hour later when he father rushed into the room, his face flustered. "Miranda!"  
  
"I'm okay," she assured him as he reached her bedside.  
  
He took a deep breath and leaned on the edge of the bed. "Oh god, what happened? I've been calling the hospitals for hours. They've only just been able to tell me you were here. Are you okay? What happened?"  
  
"Dad!" she said quickly to silence him. He was going to have a stroke if he kept this up!  
  
He smiled at her and then kissed her forehead. "I'm just glad you're alive." He was looking at her, trying to find what the problem was. And it hit her that she was going to have to explain. She had three slices through her stomach. (Or so the doctor had told her. He had also informed her that she was lucky to be alive at all. Maybe Logan's talk of healing powers was on the right track after all.) And then her father spoke. "Who did this?"  
  
"I was mugged," she said blankly and wondered quickly if she had a wallet on her. Her father was staring at her in horror. "I didn't see them though," she added quickly. "Cause it was dark and all."  
  
"Oh, Miranda." He kissed her again and Miranda closed her eyes. She hated to lie to him, but she didn't really have any other choice. She wasn't going to give away Logan. She was sure that he had never meant to hurt her. It had been some sort of reflex, and she decided it would be best to never jump out of the darkness at him again.  
  
*  
  
Miranda had to stay at the hospital for a few more days before she was finally released. The doctor joked with her that she was a fast healer. She just smiled. She had to make sure that she changed her bandages often and made sure the wound didn't get infected. A police call had been put out for her 'mugger' but Miranda doubted they'd have much luck on that front. She didn't think Logan would be found if he didn't want to be. That seemed to be the way he was.  
  
As she looked at stomach in the mirror she grimaced. It looked horrible. Three gashes stitched together tightly, and she didn't even want to know the things they had to fix inside of her. Logan's claws were pretty deadly. What the hell kind of mutation was that? She shook her head and pulled her shirt back down, before exiting the bathroom.  
  
Her father was standing in front of the TV, pushing at the aerial. "We're not picking up channel four again, honey," he said as he saw her walk in. "We need to get the TV guy back in."  
  
Miranda nodded and then took a deep breath. "Dad. Sit down, could you?"  
  
Her father turned and stared at her strangely, and then sat. "What's going on?" he asked slowly.  
  
She took a deep breath. "I have to tell you something, and you're probably not going to like it."  
  
He smiled. "Stop wringing you hands, Miranda." He looked at her. "Are you gay? Is that it?"  
  
She stared at him and blinked. "Um, no. At least I don't think so," she shook her head with frustration. "You're confusing my point!"  
  
He nodded and hid a smile. "Alright. What is it?"  
  
She took a deep breath and felt her heart against her ribcage. "Dad," her voice sounded weak. "I'm a mutant." She held her breath and waited.  
  
Her father looked mildly amused. "That's it?"  
  
Miranda blinked and stared at him, sure she'd heard wrong. "What?"  
  
"That's what all this fuss is about?" he stood up and hugged. "Oh, honey, I'm sorry you got all worked up about that."  
  
Her father was squishing her in the hug and Miranda was still quite sure she was misunderstanding him. "No, you don't get it. I'm a mutant. Like..a mutant!"  
  
He pulled back and smiled at her. "I know." Then he looked thoughtful. "I think it's time I told you a little more about your mother."  
  
Miranda just stared. 


	3. Chapter 3 Gifted Youngsters

Miranda's father sat her down at the dinner table and told Miranda all about the mother that she couldn't remember. The mother who had left Miranda when she was just an infant and had never looked back. The mother, who Miranda now knew, was a mutant herself. "Why didn't you tell me this?" she asked, staring at the table.  
  
Her father shook his head. "I wasn't sure how. I didn't know what you would think if you found out."  
  
Miranda just nodded. That made sense. Most people wouldn't like to find out that their mother was a mutant. She looked up as a thought crossed her mind. "What was her mutation?"  
  
He smiled as if remembering. "Your mother had the most remarkable gift for getting anything she wanted. At first I thought I was just pure luck, but then she told me what she was. Turned out that while I knew her as Sophia, there was a whole group of people who called her Aphrodite. And they knew that she was capable of making anyone in the world fall in love with her and be at her bidding. I didn't care that she was a mutant- I loved her- and we settled down and we had you. But Sophia was no good at being stuck with a family. She was too wild for that. And the rest you know. Woke up one morning to find her note and haven't seen her since."  
  
There was silence in the room. "You really don't know where she is?"  
  
He nodded. "Really." For a while they both sat there not saying anything. Miranda was trying to work through things in her mind but mostly failing. It was a lot to take in. "So she could make people do things…I can't do that. Shouldn't-"  
  
She was cut short by the ringing of the telephone and her father walked across the room to answer. She watched from where she stood and new exactly who was on the other end of the line. Her father was nodding. "Yes. She got home fine. I should thank you for making sure she- …Oh. No, I didn't know that. No, no, Miranda didn't tell me." He looked at her accusingly and she smiled slightly. "Of course, I'm more than happy for that. I think it will be good for her. Alright. Goodbye, Miss Grey." He hung up the phone and then looked at her with his arms crossed. "One of they stabbed you?"  
  
She looked down. "Oh yeah." Then she raised her eyes. "He didn't mean it," she added quickly. "I mean, I jumped out at him. He wasn't expecting…" she trailed off and bit her lip. "I'll be more careful next time?"  
  
"You bet you will," he said, and shook his head. Then he frowned. "What exactly is it you can do?"  
  
"Oh," she said, realising this hadn't yet come up. "I can- Well, Logan thought was invisibility-"  
  
"Logan?" Her father's tone of voice didn't sound pleased. "Who is Logan?"  
  
She spoke quickly. "He's the mutant I met who stabbed me cause he has claws that shoot out of his hand but he didn't mean it and it took me to the hospital and it's all okay so don't be mad!" She took a breath. She decided that maybe she's spoken a little too quickly for her father to get any of that and smiled slightly. "He's a mutant. The one who took me to the hospital and"  
  
"The one who stabbed you," he finished. Worry lines creased his brow.  
  
"He didn't mean it," she said, her voice quiet but firm. "I…Alright, I can, sort of, disappear."  
  
"Disappear?"  
  
Miranda nodded and sat down, flinching at the pain from her stitches. "It's not really disappearing. I mean, I'm still there and-" she stopped. Trying to describe this was ridiculous. She looked around the room and then pointed to the corner that was slightly shadowy. "Okay," she said as she stood up. "Watch me carefully." She walked toward the corner very slowly and felt that familiar tug in her stomach. It wasn't painful, but it always felt as though it should be. it felt as though her whole body was twisting and changing and she wasn't sure what happened when she hit darkness. She felt the pulling stop and heard her father say something under his breath. She turned to look at him. "Can you see me?" she asked.  
  
He was staring blankly toward the shadows and it was clear that he couldn't. "Okay," she said steadily. "I'm going to move and I want you to watch me. You should see a shimmer." Watching his stunned face she waved her hand at him. "See that?"  
  
"Miranda. I can't see any- wait. Yes. There's…something."  
  
Miranda grinned. "That's me."  
  
He nodded, looking rather dazed. "Okay, come back out now. It's creepy." But Miranda didn't move. "Miranda?" she lowered her head. Couldn't she just stay here? "Please Miranda?" she looked up and saw worry in his eyes. She nodded and closed her eyes, stepping slowly from the shadows. There was a pain in her chest as she did so and she held her breath to try and ease it. And then she heard her father take a deep, relieved breath and she knew that she was visible again. She smiled at him slightly. "Bet'cha mom couldn't do that," she said, feeling slightly embarrassed.  
  
He smiled and shook his head. "No." Then he walked across the room and hugged her gently. "I love you," he said and she smiled.  
  
*  
  
Later that afternoon Miranda was arriving at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. Miranda stood on the lawn staring up at it. Whoa. She looked at her father. "Never seen a school like this before," she muttered.  
  
He was looking around as well. "Looks like one of those posh boarding schools."  
  
They were still looking around at the school when a young woman with bobbed red hair came out to meet them. "James Althea?" she asked with a smile.  
  
Her father nodded and the woman shook his hand. "I'm Jean Grey. We spoke on the phone."  
  
Her father smiled. "Ah, Miss Grey."  
  
"Jean, please." The woman turned her eyes to Miranda. "And you must be Miranda. It's a pleasure to have you here."  
  
Miranda smiled nervously. "Thanks." She looked around at the children everywhere. "Are they all mutants?" she asked, not sure if she sounded rude or not. Jean nodded, also looking around at them. "Yes," she said simply and then looked at Miranda. "Are you ready to come in and meet everyone?"  
  
Miranda nodded and smiled at her father. "Yeah. I'm okay."  
  
Her father smiled brightly and kissed her brow. "You'll be fine. I'll be back in a few hours to check in. Is that alright with you Mis- Jean?"  
  
She smiled and nodded. "Of course. We'll get Miranda set up with a room and introduce her to everyone." She looked at Miranda. "Ready?"  
  
Miranda nodded and swallowed her nervousness. "Yeah. Let's go." 


	4. Chapter 4

The school inside was dark and Miranda had to consciously keep herself from melting into it. The place reminded her of when she had visited an old manor when she was twelve. The wood there had smelt deeply or something indistinguishable but pleasant all the same, and Miranda had wanted to take the smell home to her carpeted house that smelled of air freshener and clean air and add this smell as well. Miranda could smell it again in this school and she wondered whether it was just a smell that places took on after a long time. Just another 'old wood' smell. It was comforting in some way, but it wasn't helping her relax. She wanted to say something nice to the woman who walked by her side up the corridor but blurted out the question that was at the front of her mind. "Where's Logan?"  
  
Jean turned her head to look at Miranda. "I'm not sure. He'll-"  
  
Miranda stood walking and stared at Jean, wide-eyed. "You're not sure?" Suddenly she felt nothing but exposed in that hallway. Logan wasn't there? Logan had to be there! She let the shadows drag her back into them and closed her eyes. "I want Logan," she said quietly, keeping her voice neutral. She opened her eyes and saw Jean looking in the shadows near her, and realised that she was not visible any more. She watched Jean as she spoke. "I'm sure Logan will come back soon. Until then…Miranda. Will you come out of there?"  
  
Miranda didn't move for a whole but then stepped forward. Jean smiled gently and Miranda looked up at her. "This place is dark," she commented.  
  
Jean nodded non-committedly. "Is that a problem?"  
  
Miranda shook her head. "No. I like the dark."  
  
*  
  
An hour later Jean had performed a full check up on Miranda and made sure her stomach was healing okay. ("More than okay," she had said, "It's impressive.") And then she'd left Miranda in her office while she went to checkout a room for her.  
  
The office was bright, with a huge window opening to a wide garden outside. Miranda scanned the bookcase along the wall. Most of the texts her were medical books of some sort, mostly about evolution and animal nature.  
  
There was a man's voice in the hall and Miranda shrunk back to the wall. The door opened and a boy stood there, looking no older than she was. "Hello?" he looked around, his dark, scruffy hair falling across his eyes and Miranda watched him silently from where she stood. For a moment she thought he saw her, but then his eyes moved on. With a shrug he turned to leave. Before he could reach the door, Miranda spoke. "Who are you?"  
  
The boy spun around, flicking out a lighter and opening it. Miranda thought he seemed far to practised at that to be healthy. "Who the fuck's there?" he demanded looking around. Miranda didn't move. She stayed still where she was, well aware that this room was rather bright for her to move too much. "I asked first," she finally said. The boy turned to look at where the voice came from and narrowed his eyes on her. By now he must have been able to see something there. Her body was straining to stay hidden, but the lights in here weren't helping that. The sun was practically shining on her. And when he smiled she knew he could see her. "You Miranda?" She nodded, forgetting that he wouldn't see that. "You want to come out so I can see you?"  
  
"Not really," she said, staring intently at him. "You know my name, this doesn't exactly put us on equal footing."  
  
The boy smiled as if she had a point and flicked the lighter again. "John." Then he shoved the lighter into his pocket and sighed. "Now would you come out? Logan wants to check on you."  
  
Miranda pulled herself from the shadows immediately, ignoring the dull pull. "Logan?"  
  
"Ah, I said the magic word," he said dryly, looking at her carefully. "Nice to see you," he said, cocking his head to the side. Then he straightened. "Come on," he said, and nodded toward the door. "Let's go get some lunch."  
  
Miranda frowned. "I thought you said Logan wanted to see me?" she asked as he began to lead her out of the room.   
  
"Yeah," John said, "I lied. Logan isn't here, but Jean wants you to come eat something." He smiled at her and she resisted the urge to pout. He once again had the lighter in his hand and was flicking it open. She eyed it carefully. "Do I even want to ask about your power, Fire Boy?"  
  
"Probably not," he said, giving her a cryptic smile and leading her down the hallway.  
  
*  
  
The dining room was quiet with only a few people there. It was still too early for proper lunch. John waved at a couple sitting at a table by the window and they waved back as he lead Miranda toward them and slide into his seat. Miranda took the free seat next to him and looked at the two in front of her. The boy was taller that John, with sandy blonde hair and a nice smile, and the girl beside him had a streak of white through her dark hair and clothes that covered most of her body. John gestured to Miranda. "Guys. Welcome the newest mutant to school."  
  
The tall boy gave her a friendly smile and held out his hand. "I'm Iceman."  
  
She reached out and shook his hand but blurted out the first thing that came into her head. "Your name is Iceman?"  
  
Again came the bright smile. She did notice that he has brilliant blue eyes as well. "Nah, my name's Bobby. Iceman's kinda of like a codename. We've all got them."  
  
"Yeah," John said, looking at her coolly. "I'm Pyro." Then he smiled.   
  
"Fire Boy," said Miranda, smiling slightly.  
  
"And I'm Rogue," said the girl. She, unlike the Bobby, did not offer her hand to Miranda, but somehow she didn't think Rogue was being rude about it.  
  
"Hi," she said, feeling slightly shy in front of these new people. "I'm Miranda. And I don't have any codename. Just Miranda."  
  
Bobby took a drink of his soda. "Well, you'll have to get a codename. It's all the rage these days. So what's your power?" he asked, leaning forward across the table. "Fire? Electricty? Amazing Animorphing?" he laughed and Miranda smiled slightly, trying to work out what to say. She hated explaining her power, she'd realised. It never felt as simple as saying 'I control fire' or 'telepathy.' Firstly, she didn't control anything, it controlled her. And secondly, what was the name of this thing that controlled her. John, seeing her reluctance to answer, answered for her. "Miranda here is the Amazing Shadow."   
  
Miranda laughed the loudest at that. "Please don't let that be my codename!"  
  
Rogue smiled. "Well, you'd better find one or else someone might decide to 'label' you."  
  
  
  
Miranda thought for a moment. Well, she lived in the shadows. But Shadow wasn't enough…What animals could disappear? She smiled as it came together. "Got it…Shadowcat!"  
  
The three of them all began laughing and she blushed. "I didn't think it was that bad," she mumbled, looking down at the table. They just kept laughing and Miranda felt a tap on her shoulder from behind. She turned and saw a girl sitting there, long hair up in a pony tail. She held out her hand. "I'm Kitty," she said, and then leaned in closer to whisper, "My codename's Shadowcat." She smiled brightly as she pulled back and Miranda closed her eyes. This was going well. The Asian girl opposite Kitty was laughing too. Great. Wonderful. Perfect start to what would probably be a perfect week. Time to crawl under a rock because everyone already though she was an idiot.  
  
"Miranda?" As she was the only one who was not still giggling to some degree, she was the only one who heard Jean speak and beckon her toward the door. Miranda slipped out from the table and left the group to their own devices. None of them seemed to notice her go.  
  
"Where are we going?" Miranda asked as she walked down another corridor with Jean.   
  
Jean nodded ahead. "To Xavier. He runs the school. We just need to run a few things by you before we can start you on any training."  
  
"Training?" Miranda repeated, brightening at the thought of it. "You mean, so I can control my…thing?"  
  
Jean smiled brightly. "Yes." They had stopped in front of an office and Jean had her handle on the door. "Come on. Promise he doesn't bite," she smiled. 


End file.
